Tsrul
The conlang itself is mostly finished, but this page is incomplete in its description of Tsrul. Please check back as the page updates to get a more complete view of the Tsrul Language. These boolean values are not necessarily uniformly true; some markers are optional. Setting Tsrul, or more formally, The language of the Tsrul (naxam tsrulpul) is the lingua franca of the Tsrul race, a space-faring species of the genus Homo in the distant future.The Tsrul evolutionary path has diverged radically from modern humans. Their primary mode of transportation is capable of manipulating time and space, resulting in their colonization of an enormous swath of space and time in the cosmos. Though there are some dialectical differences, the homogeneity of Tsrul culture as a result of their highly mobile lifestyle makes the language fairly uniform. It is not the only language spoken by the Tsrul, but it is the most common. Phonology Tsrul is composed of 27 consonants and 9 vowels. Consonants All of the Nasal, Approximant, Trill/tap, Lateral, and Glottal consonants are phonemically sonorant in Tsrul. Vowels Phonotactics Syllable structure The possible Tsrul syllable structure is of the form (Cᴏɴs.(Fʀɪᴄ.))(Sᴏɴᴏʀ.)V(V)(Sᴏɴᴏʀ.)(Sᴏɴᴏʀ.) Sound change rules #nasal consonants undergo place assimilation before non-sonorants. n+p → mp #sonorants preceding the same sonorant (including vowels) due to word formation are deleted, not doubled. for instance, m+m → m #word-initial ʔ is changed to h #if h meets a nasal due to word formation, h is deleted. pinuh+nto → pinunto #epenthesis - when roots are combined in ways that could make non-sonorant consonants touch, i is inserted between them. (this is a rare occurance.) oṫ+qa → oṫiqa #uvular consonants ɴ,q,ɢ,χ alternate freely with velar consonants ŋ,k,g,x when followed by high front vowels i,ɪ or palatal j (very few native Tsrul speakers notice the difference between uvular/velar sounds) Affricates *Plosive Consonants can be affricated with their fricative counterparts, forming p͡ɸ t͡θ q͡χ ʔ͡h b͡β and d͡ð. *p, t, and q can all be combined with s and ʂ, while b and d can be combined with z and ʐ. Diphthongs Digraphs *hm, hn, and hṅ are digraphs for the voiceless nasals, and act as single sonorant consonants in usage. Thus, letter clusters such as /hml/ can be formed in Tsrul syllables, despite the phonemic constraint of Tsrul syllable structure allowing only two sonorants at the end of a syllable. Notable Aspects Cores The most important parts of Tsrul grammar are the lexemic 'cores.' Somewhat like triliteral word roots in Semitic languages, Tsrul cores are modified by affixes to create the word forms of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Tsrul words are listed in dictionaries by their cores, and dozens of individual forms can be created from a single core. Word Order For declarative sentences and dependent clauses, the word order is typically (Subject)(Object)Verb. However, a comprehensive case system allows for some variation without a loss in listener/reader comprehension. Since verbs usually have a subject marker included in their circumfix, the Subject does not necessarily need to be overtly stated. As not all sentences include Objects, it is entirely possible to create many whole sentences using a single word. questions which elicit a yes/no response generally have the form Verb (Subject)(Object). To be One of the most notable aspects of Tsrul is its complete lack of the verb "to be." Native Tsrul speakers have some difficulty grasping the concept of its usage, and many never learn how to use it correctly in their auxiliary languages. The closest verb in meaning to it is "to exist," which itself is very restricted in its usage. It is used only to refer to the 'action' of Existence, the abstract concept. As such, many statements which would use "to be" in English or other languages must be rephrased in terms of frame of reference when translated into Tsrul. For instance, a Tsrul speaker would say "I see the apple as red," rather than "The apple is Red." Parts of Speech Nouns Cases Tsrul has nine cases. these case infixes are appended directly after the core. * can be merged into the form -jeĭ- for the “locative temporal,” showing space/time relationships, i.e. “where and when Gene is.” *The Agentive case (unmarked) is used with the agent of an active verb, as in the sentence “'Gene' went outside.” *The Patientive case is used with the patient of a passive verb, as in the sentence “'Gene' was hit by a car.” *The Accusative case is used for the direct object of a transitive verb, as in the sentences “Gene ate an apple,” or “Gene gave a car to Alice.” *The Dative case is used for the indirect object of a ditransitive verb, as in the sentence “Gene gave a car to Alice.” It is also used to denote the agent in passive ditransitive constructions, such as “Alice was given a car by Gene.” *The Commitative case is used for ‘with’ relationships, as in the sentence “Gene walked with Alice.” It is also used to describe relationships of possession, with the possessor in the Commitative case, which requires some rephrasing to accurately translate into English; e.g. “The apple Gene had with him was red,” or to rephrase into a more common possessive phrase, “The apple of Gene was red.” Possessive English phrases of the form “X’s Y,” will translate as Y X.ᴄᴏᴍ. *The Locative case is used to show static location. it holds a similar meaning to the English prepositions “on,” “near,” “in,” or “at.” with prepositions, it shows motion in relation to the word. with motion verbs (to go, to come, to walk, etc.), it means “to” *The Temporal case is used to indicate a moment in time. it mirrors the locative case, but with time. However, it is important to note that it can be used in ways such as “During the rule of Charlemagne” or “the place in time that Gene is”, which can be far-removed from the current time. the tonal tense markers provide the objectʻs temporal location in relation to the speaker. *The Instrumental case shows the relationship of the tool to the user, as in the sentence “Gene drove the nail using a hammer.” It is also used to denote the logical agent in monotransitive passive constructions, such as “The apple was eaten by Gene.” *The Similative case is used to indicate likeness or similarity, as in “Madonna is like a virgin.” *A bare core signifies the (officially unrecognized) Vocative case. e.g., dżinm means ‘the truth,’ whereas dżin means ‘O, truth,’ ‘O, Gene,’ or simply ‘Gene.’ Number marker There are three grammatical numbers, Singular, Paucal, and Plural. Paucal is directly translated as "a few" or "several." In their simplest form, the number markers are appended directly after the case ending. singular is denoted by -m, paucal -l, and plural -r. The paucal/plural barrier is variable, typically between three and six, but can be very high, as in reference to extremely large groups. Determiner Suffixes However, both number and case are slightly more complicated with the addition of determiner suffixes on nouns. The suffixes take many varying forms depending on the determiner which is appended to the noun. For instance, the noun ṅanom means 'boat' or 'the boat', while ṅanomo means 'a boat.' When ṅanomo is declined into the dative case, it becomes ṅanonso (with the singular m changing to n due to nasal place assymilation.), meaning 'to a boat.' The varying forms of these determiner suffixes are shown below. * differentiated from “that/those” by whether or not the speaker can see the object, or if it is in another room/area, or not immediately present. Gender Suffixes Gender is entirely optional in Tsrul, and is rarely used unless either a distinction needs to be made or the gender of an entity is important information. The masculine infix -ʻa-, the feminine -ha-, and the neuter -na- are inserted before the number/determiner suffix. Derivational Prefixes Derivational prefixes attach directly to the core in a Tsrul word, regardless of other grammatical prefixes. The derivational prefixes which turn words into nouns are as follows: Irregular Nouns Several classes of nouns always take the paucal number, regardless of their logical number. *Ethnonyms, such as 'Tsrul,' 'American,' or 'East Asian.' *Mass nouns, such as 'rice' or 'honey.' These nouns are easily predictable in Tsrul: If the texture of the entity in its current state is either granular or liquid, it will almost always be considered a mass noun. notable exceptions include nouns like ṡujam 'teardrop' and ŏṅmaṡojr 'pebbles.' Other nouns are always singular, such as ṫum 'time,' and gobam 'humanity.' (other examples will be provided in the future, but have not been created for the conlang yet.) Miscellany The diminutive marker, which fits between the core and the number ending, is -tṡoj- or -ṡoj-, as in ŏṅma'ṡoj'r'' above (ŏṅma ᴍɪɴᴇʀᴀʟ + ṡoj ᴅɪᴍ + r ᴘʟᴜ). Whether it takes the form of -ṡoj- or -tṡoj- is based almost entirely on speaker preference, though there are some words which uniformly use one form or the other. Adjectives Adjectives in Tsrul are shown with suffixes, and are declined for number to match the noun they are modifying. Markers When adjectives are used in comparison to nouns, the similative case is used on the noun being compared to the antecedent. For instance, ''zĕgim eqaḋaŏ uṫazom ṗelaṅżam ''eqaḋaŏ'', ʻsun (ᴀɢᴇ) than moon (sɪᴍ) shines.' Derivational Prefixes As with nouns, Derivational prefixes are prefixed to the cores. *not used with ‘tsrul’ Verbs Verbs are arguably the most salient and complex part of the Tsrul Language. They have the most features of any part of speech in Tsrul, and are capable of conveying a huge amount of information. The verbal circumfix is very complex, and will be broken down into several parts for this explanation. Person and number prefix The prefix which conveys the information of person and number on Tsrul verbs is inflected into varying forms. They are inflected for the singular, paucal and plural numbers as well as the active, middle, and passive voices in four persons. The first, second, and third persons function as expected in relation to many other languages. The middle voice is used for actions whose agents are also their patients, as well as with reflexive verbs. For instance, 'the door opened,' 'the man shot himself,' 'we met one another,' and 'you slapped your own face' would all use the middle voice in Tsrul. The fourth person functions much the same way "one" or "they" is used in some English constructions: as an unspecific, general entity. It is important to note that the paucal first person functions as an exclusive first person; indicating that the speaker and another party, but not the listener, were involved in the action. The plural first person functions as an inclusive first person, where the listener is included. These prefixes are not necessarily attached to every verb. If the subject remains the same through an entire statement, these prefixes are entirely optional on all but the main verb (usually the final verb in a sentence), and they are frequently dropped by Tsrul speakers. In fact, entire stories can be related with only a single verb having its person and number explicitly stated, provided that the subject remains the same through the story. It is only in formal discourse that every verb is expected to have these prefixes. This is one of the few honorific features of Tsrul; providing all of the prefixes on verbs suggests that the speaker views the conversation as a formal encounter, and holds the listener in high esteem. However, the usage of these prefixes is not entirely limited to verbs. A possessive construction such as 'my pet' or 'their cars' will use the active prefixes attached to a declined noun to show this relationship. For instance, since 'pet' is qsim in Tsrul, 'my pet' would be ḋo'qsim. Similarly, object pronouns (e.g. I gave them to you.) are the active prefixes with case endings attached. Since the prefixes are already inflected for number, the m''/''l/''r'' number endings are not added. For instance, 'I gave them to you (paucal)' is hoso sato ḋoʻalḋáŏ́ in Tsrul. mo (the number zero) can also be used as a personal prefix to indicate forbidden, taboo, or incredibly undesired actions, roughly translating as 'nobody does action.' mo used as a prefix is not inflected for number. Evidential suffix The suffix of verbs provides evidential information, letting the listener know how certain the speaker is that the action happened. There are four levels of this evidentiality: The speaker experiences the event, The event is relayed to the speaker by another party, the speaker assumes or infers that the event takes place, and the speaker is unsure that the event takes place. These suffixes are inflected in discrete (I eat) and continuous (I am eating) forms, as well as in the indicative and subjunctive moods. Tonal tense Tense is shown on the evidential suffix with tone curves. the tones fall on the aŏ,oŏ,aĭ,oĭ,wa,wo,wĕ, and wi segments of the suffixes shown above. There are seven tenses in Tsrul: the infinite past, The distant past, the recent past, the present, the near future, the distant future, and the infinite future. This great number of tenses is a reflection of the Tsrul ability to easily travel through time; any given speaker can experience an enormous time frame, and as such the language has grown to allow speakers to more easily express these time frames. However, the tenses are not divided by specific time scales. For instance, when speaking of the year 1992 (CE), one would generally default to using the distant past. It is a point in time that speakers alive today would be able to remember with certainty, but it is far-removed from the present year. However, when speaking of the year 1992 in comparison to the year 20,000 BCE, the recent past would be used: it is much, much closer to the present than the year 20,000 BCE. Alternatively, 20,000 BCE would be in the infinite past in relation to the present, but would be the infinite future if the speaker was referencing that date 1 billion years ago. But in general, the default barriers of these tenses are broken down in the following manner: anywhere from 2 months to a year from the speaker's present time would usually be considered the recent past/near future. Beyond that, up until the points in time where no currently-present person would be expected to experience the event (i.e., they were not yet/would no longer be alive), the distant tenses would typically be used. This provides a time frame of approximately 200 years into the past and future. However, cultural epochs or other 'temporal landmarks' are also some of the intuitive timescales used to divide these tenses. Finally, anything beyond the limits of the distant tenses would be referenced with the infinite tenses. There are three tones in Tsrul: high tone ◌́, low tone ◌̀, and no tone ◌. To create the tenses in Tsrul, the tones are used as follows: Additionally, there are two other 'tense-like' tones in Tsrul. *The momentative, which functions much like the english word 'just' (as in, 'I just washed my car, and now itʻs raining.' ). When used with a continuous evidential marker, it signifies that the action is about to occur. Its tone curve is ◌́◌̀. *The frequentative, which indicates that the action is habitual or regularly recurring. When used with a continuous Evidential suffix, it indicates that the action occurs occasionally or unpredictably, but still repetitively. Its tone curve is ◌̀◌́. All of these tones can be used on nouns in the temporal case to show the noun's relative position in time compared to the speaker. Aspectual markers Aspectual markers fall into two categories in Tsrul: suffixed markers, or proclitic particles. The suffixed markers include the following, which are attached after the evidential suffix. When all of the suffixes are present, they are added in the following order. #Many languages ask questions by modifying the intonation of statements. Since tone is used to show tense in Tsrul, the suffix -r signifies that the verb is a question. #The suffix -m (or -mi) signifies that the verb is causitive. For instance, ṡoquxom ḋoŏmḋàŏ̀ ʻI tripped over the root' vs. ṡoquxom ḋoŏmḋàŏ̀'m 'I was caused to trip over the root.' The grammatical agent stays the same, but the agency of the verb is shifted. The form -mi is used only when the perfective marker is also present. #The perfective marker -n signifies completion of the action as a whole, rather than as an ongoing event. Since English lacks a true perfective, it is somewhat difficult to convey the difference in meaning. However, the difference can be illustrated with the following example: glum soṡenḋàŏ̀ 'The wood burned' vs. glum soṡenḋàŏ̀'n'' 'The wood burned '''up.' The proclitic particles also have a specific order, and are written as separate words before the verb. #ŭ is used to make the verb perfect. It is important to note that this is not the same effect as the perfective marker above. To use the same example, glum soṡenḋàŏ̀n means 'The wood burned up,' while glum ŭ'' soṡenḋàŏ̀n means 'The wood '''had burned up.' #u makes the verb dynamic. This changes the verb from a simple action to an action that involves change, imparts motion to the verb, or otherwise strengthens the effect of the verb. For instance, nuqumjoŏ means 'to apply pressure,' while ''u nuqumjoŏ'' means 'to rub' #e adds the mode of capability to the verb. It functions in essentially the same manner as the English verb 'can.' For Example, ḋojupaḋaŏ 'I sing' vs. ''e ḋojupaḋaŏ'' 'I can sing' #o changes the verb to the supine, and can only be used with verbs that have a fourth person prefix and a discrete reportative evidential suffix. For example, hunam o impożoʻḋoŏ 'food is for eating' (lit. for being eaten) Auxiliary verbs Auxiliary verbs in Tsrul are conjugated to provide the information that the sentence is meant to convey. The verbs they modify are always in the subjunctive, and are connected to the auxiliary verbs with the particle i. This particle provides no added meaning, and serves only to show that the two verbs are logically connected. The verbs can be ordered in any fashion, so long as they are all connected in the sentence, and joined with the i particle. Examples inᴄlude: jalṡojĕm 'ḋouljaḋaŏ i qonḋwa - 'I want to walk to the river' Irregular verbs (unformatted, stay tuned) possess maḃa maḃaŏ maḃoŏ majḃaŏ majḃoŏ indic.disc. maḃaĭ maḃoĭ majḃaĭ majḃoĭ indic.cont. maḃwa maḃwo mawa mawo subj.disc. maḃwĕ maḃwi mawĕ mawi subj.cont. go diru dirḋu dirḋo dirju dirjo dirḋa dirḋi dirja dirji diruwa diruwo dirwa dirwo diruwĕ diruwi dirwe dirwi converse bŭ baŏ boŏ bjaŏ bjoŏ baĭ boĭ bjaĭ bjoĭ bŭwa bŭwo bwa bwo bŭwĕ bŭwi bwĕ bwi see nĕpo nĕpaŏ nĕpoŏ njĕpaŏ njĕpoŏ nĕpaĭ nepoĭ njĕpaĭ njĕpoĭ nĕpowa nĕpowo nepwa nepwo nĕpowĕ nĕpowi nĕpwĕ nĕpwi do/act ĕm ĕmaŏ ĕmoŏ jĕmaŏ jĕmoŏ ĕmaĭ ĕmoĭ jĕmaĭ jĕmoĭ ĕmwa ĕmwo jĕmwa jĕmwo ĕmwĕ ĕmwi jĕmwĕ jĕmwi Adverbs Adverbs are arguably the simplest part of the Tsrul Language. If a core starts with a consonant, it is prefixed with pi- to make it an adverb. If the core starts with a vowel, it is prefixed with pj-. As it is inflected using a prefix, the other parts of speech (which are shown with suffixes) can generally be changed into adverbs. the only derivational affix used with adverbs is the negative suffix -xal, which has the same meaning as English 'un-.' This suffix is placed after any other suffixes that may be attached to the core. Grammatical Particles Mixed Parts Specialized Terminology Idioms pinunto - 'a greeting ᴀᴄᴄ' (shortened from 'I give you a greeting') - hello (declines for number of people being greeted) ṫolapum -'' 'of the error' (shortened from 'this results from my error.') - I'm sorry 'to laugh widely' - to laugh heartily 'to speak crookedly' - to be drunk 'to speak like an uthan' - to paint or create visual art ''giqatom jotsojoŏ ᴄᴏᴍ - 'to steal the ear someone' - to scream at/berate someone Numbers Kinship Terms Dictionary Cores are listed in the form “core - noun form, verb form.” Cores typically do not exceed 4 syllables, though there are exceptions, mostly compounds and borrowings. *irregulars are marked with an asterisk †non-core words (prepositions, particles, etc.) are marked with a dagger Stress is marked with ◌́ for tsrul beginners. in practice, this is never done in tsrul writing. *ʻ ʻaḃĭ́n - wrist, to gesticulate ‘áha - thickness, to make thicker ʻaṫán - a slithering animal (snake), to slither ʻhĭ́ṅgŭ - vomit, to vomit ʻĭṅóma - coilgun ʻŏr - basic unit (quark, electron), to break down ʻun - food, to prepare food ʻuqán - complexity (a type of beauty), to be complex ʻurtabŏ́r - useful skill, to be skilled ʻuwo - circle, to encircle *a a† - and (takes the form al when preceding a) ahná - nostril/nose, to sniff aĭ - colonization, to colonize am - parent, to be a parent áṅgo - total, to be whole ápa - dirt, to get dirty aqál - perception, to perceive aŏl† - how (as in “I know how you feel.”) aŏtán - glory, to make glorious aṗó - shin, to kneel aṡŭ́ - correctness, to correct *b baĭ - conquest, to conquer bába - baby, to be born (passive is “to give birth/lay an egg,” depending on species) baḃa - quantum entanglement, to entangle quantum states baḃan - quantum entanglement-converter, to travel via superconverter tsrul power core bir - thirty, to count thirty (transitive) bil - three, to count three (transitive) bjĕ† - until bo† - even bósu - end point, to finish brajen - mentorship, to mentor bráŏ† - since bŭ* - conversation, to converse búla - Near UV (380nm), to make Near UV (transitive) búsu - learning, to learn bwána - bewilderment, to make bewildered (transitive) bżon - manslaughter, to kill (accidentally) *ḃ ḃáḋŭ - domestic animal, to train ḃanán - lie, to lie (as a liar would) ḃaŏ† - before ḃon - thoroughness, to be thorough ḃonaqál - comprehension, to comprehend ḃuháh - wind, to blow ḃuqí - leg, to kick ḃun - key, to lock ḃuṡŭ́m - fat, to fatten bŭĭtán - wide, to make wider *d daʻ† - hey!/stop!/wait!/look out! (usually repeated three times as “daʻdaʻdaʻ!”) daṡa - a collected/cool demeanor, to maintain a collected/cool demeanor dampé - knee, to genuflect dḋjúqa - fall, to fall díru* - going, to go dran - simplicity, to simplify dzítu - cycle, to turn dzjúqa - ground, to bury (dyn: to till) dzwal - falsehood, to falsify dżin - truth, to tell the truth dżíma - coming, to come dżóṡa - other, to ostracize *ḋ ḋábu - attempt, to attempt/try ḋĕ́le - terrestrial planet, to make landfall (dyn: to slingshot) ḋĕlélu - gas planet, to pull with heavy gravity ḋihá - finger, to poke ḋíme - blue (495nm), to make blue (transitive) ḋíni - writing, to write/type ḋiṗím - fingernail, to scratch ḋnáme - back, to lie down ḋaŏ - verb, to make a core into a verb (ḋoŏ, jaŏ, and joŏ are alternate forms) ḋrŏṅ - supposition, to suppose ḋun† - out of/from ḋújam - swelling, to swell *e e† - modal clitic of capability ébuṡi - fight/brawl, to fight ejém - wish, to wish ejúṅ -wipe, to wipe elgám - unnaturalness, to be unnatural élu - cloud, to be cloudy (dyn: to fog up, as glasses do coming from the cold) elxó - unnatural/untimely death, to die unnaturally em† - through (as in, to move through a doorway) énu† - over éqa - shine, to shine eṡól - half, to halve ezím - sword, to slash *ĕ ĕḃrín - shame, to be shameful ĕdémo - clothing, to clothe ĕdzín† - provided that egmán - lake, to float ĕldió - bifurcation, to split ĕpṗín - favorite, to feel favoritism for (transitive, positive connotation) ĕm* - action, to do ĕṅqaŏ - dark mass-energy (mass), to convert energy to dark matter (dyn: DM to energy) ĕ́no - leaf, to whisper *g ga† - from gahṡán - heaviness/weight, to make heavier gażóh - sacredness, to be sanctified giqá - ear, to hear (dyn: to listen) gja - way/path, to travel on a path glu - wood, to do carpentry (to object) góbam* - humanity, to be humane gaqál - flying animal (bird), to fly gója - (step)sibling, to be born as a sibling góno - resignation, to give up gru - example sentences gudżó - laughter, to laugh gúju - heart/pump, to pump gŭl† - oy/jeez gżum - pull, to pull *h ha† - from when (from the time of...) háhqa - snow, to snow háṡĕ - breath, to breathe hĕl - four, to count four (transitive) hĕmún - far IR (15μm), to make far IR (transitive) hĕr - forty, to count forty (transitive) hĕ́tsi - tree, to grow (in age) hijá† - on the subject of/about (+SIM) híme - diving, to dive hogóm - suction, to suck hinúsu - pleasure, to please hner - torture, to torture *i i† - conjunctive clitic iṗá - opening, to be open (dyn: to open) ípe - thinness, to make thinner ího - pain, to cause pain il - ten, to count ten (transitive) im - one, to count one (transitive) in - prohibition, DON’T! iṅ - necessity, you must! imsól - counting, to count imán† - all at once/at one time ímpo - demand, I demand that... ínto - mandate, I respectfully mandate that... íṅqo - request, I request that... ípe - ease, to make something easy (transitive) iqéni - Ikeni, to behave like an Ikeni ir - multitude (or 60, as a number), to be many (or to count sixty (transitive)) iṡó* - Existence (the deity), to be (mostly unused, in a trsul’s mind only Existence can be) *ĭ ĭḃám - spouse, to be married (transitive) ĭgmá - ambush, to ambush ĭ́mba - curiosity (positive connotation; healthy curiosity), to be interested ĭmjuwá - hunting, to hunt ĭnál - salt (mass), to salt ĭ́nte - happiness, to be happy ĭṅóṗu - mind, to think ĭṡŭ - age, to age ĭ́zno - anger/rage, to cause anger/rage *j jálṡo - river, to flow jan† - because jáṅqo - color, to color/paint jaṗó - surreality, to be surreal jeṡúr - nanofabric, to weave nanofabric jĕm - narrowness, to make narrower jíbu - eye, to look at jom - jumping, to jump (dyn: to jump over) jotsó - theft, to steal jóŏtṡo - galaxy, to travel from galaxy to galaxy juná† - under júpa - voice, to sing júṡu - right/clockwise, to go right/clockwise (dyn: to turn right/cw) *l la - vibrance, to be vibrant lam - fruit, to prepare/harvest fruit laqáŏ - mass-energy (mass noun), to convert energy to matter (dyn: matter to energy) légŭm - rain, to rain down (weather is phrased as “rain falls outside,” not “it’s raining”) líni - sand (mass), to sift lixá - genitals, to have intercourse with (dyn: to lose one’s virginity) líta - joy, to be joyous lo - creation/invention, to create/invent losáŭ - wind, to blow lumón - dullness, to dull (a blade) lun - good, to do well lúṡo - orange (610nm), to make orange (transitive) *m maḃá* - possession, to have málaʻ - claw, to claw manám - cold, to chill majám - Far UV (170nm), to make Far UV (transitive) mĕĭr - seven, to count seven (transitive) mĕn - space, to space-travel mĕ́su - head (body part), to headbutt mi - thumb, to vote (mitsojm -secondary thumb) mizŭ́ - safety, to provide safety for (transitive) (dyn: to protect) miżím - skin, to laminate mo* - zero (takes the form om when following itself, thus mo om mo om = 00:00:00:00), to count zero (transitive) moqṡá - white, to whiten (transitive) múmŭ - mouth, to kiss *n nar† - but nal - beauty (holds a neutral, non-gender specific connotation), to be beautiful náqe - home planet, to live on one’s home planet (dyn: to return home) naxá - language, to speak nĕpó* - sight, to see niqá - tooth, to bite nisi - myth/magic, to regale/cast spells njar - six, to count six (transitive) nol - five, to count five (transitive) nóqa† - only/just (can be made into adjectival noqaza- ‘alone’) nor - fifty, to count fifty (transitive) nuqúm - palm (of the hand), to apply pressure (dyn: to rub) *ṅ ṅáno - ship/ocean vessel, to be on a ship (dyn: to get on a ship) ṅaqá - cessation, to stop (intransitive) ṅjóqa - throw, to throw ṅoqál - decision, to decide ṅo† - whence (from where) ṅoʻír - travel, to travel ṅónum - left/counter-clockwise, to go left/counterclockwise (dyn: to turn left/ccw) ṅóṡah - swimming animal (fish), to swim ṅúnu - wonder, to be wondrous *o oʻal - gift, to give ógo - red (700nm), to redden (transitive) ogŏ́ - friendship, to be friends (dyn: to become friends) ójĕm - plant, to root oneself into something/stand one’s ground (dyn: to become stuck) oŏm - tripping, to trip (over something) ónjo - being lost, to be lost oŏqi - a type of very hard liquor, to pour out a shot of oŏqi (dyn: to drink oŏqi) or - nine, to count nine (transitive) oṫĕ́n† - wherever oṫí† -where (as in “I know where the city is) ożi† - when (as in “I know when my plane leaves) ożóʻ - taste, to taste (what the food does, not what the taster does) *ŏ ŏḃóṅ - murder, to murder (purposefully) ŏgnúj - sea, to rage ŏnŭ́ - relationship (romantic), to like/be invovled with romantically (transitive) ŏṅmá - stone, to crush ŏ́pṡu - fear, to cause fear (pas: to fear) ŏqṡá - line, to align ŏqíbe - warp nanite, to send data over the warp array ŏ́rtṡa - confusion, to confuse ŏ́tsi - person (masculine, male), to be masculine (different connotation compared to now) *p pajó - up, to go upward (dyn: to turn upward) pása - tongue, to lick pánja - power/ability, to be able pinúh - greeting, to greet (dyn: to meet for the first time) píso - novelty, to restore pitó† - even though pṗo† - although pŭl - benign foolishness, to be a dunce *ṗ ṗa - door, to close ṗélan - satellite (natural or man-made), to orbit (dyn: to be captured in orbit) ṗinaʻ - axe, to hew ṗlóqa - smoke, to produce smoke ṗóla - smooth, to make smooth ṗóma† - around (as in, to circle around) ṗoṅ - bad, to be bad ṗożjá - tail, to wag one’s tail ṗúżŭ - (exact meaning is unclear, but is EXTREMELY derogatory) ṗŭsál - ash, to turn to ash *q qajó† - for some time qan - knowledge, to know qaṡóʻ - size (specifically, largeness), to inflate or make larger qáxa† - if qażáno - mid IR (8μm), to make mid IR (transitive) qérḋa - curiosity (has a negative connotation; nosy-curious), to be nosy qéxo - machine, to mechanize qih† - ouch! (usually completely voiceless, pronounced ki̥h or qḁh) qjaŏpó - thread, to sew qon - footstep, to walk qópa - darkness, to be dark qsim - pet, to domesticate qsĭn - iron, to smith/forge qṡa - pigment, to dye qṡibá - tug, to pull qṡol - hole, to make a hole qṡun - worm, to burrow qṡúar - atmosphere, to fill a ship with atmosphere qul - consumption, to eat qulún - an incredibly spicy rice-like dish with a thick sauce, to prepare qulun quṡŭ́n - expansion, to expand *r ra - sleep, to sleep rámo - purple (430nm), to make purple (transitive) raṡáĭm - play (what kids do for fun), to play ráxa - dream, to dream remŭ́ - dryness, to dessiccate rijŭ́m - day (mass), to spend the day rinjím - division into, to divide x into y (x=ɪɴsᴛ, y=ᴀᴄᴛ) riqóm - a predatory scaly animal, to stalk rĭṅ - god, to be deified roŏ - promiscuity, to be promiscuous ruṫá - occurrence, to happen rŭṡú - shortness, to make shorter *s sáĭqo - feather, to glide saqál - person (feminine, female), to be feminine (different connotation compared to now) sen - egg, to ovulate selŭ - fright, to frighten sjóma - sky, to jump sol - two, to count two (transitive) sóṗi - breast, to breastfeed sor - twenty , to count twenty (transitive) sóṡu - raod/railway (artificial path), to drive sugá - flower, to bloom *ṡ ṡażá - hair, to braid ṡápa - wing, to fly ṡen - fire, to burn ṡíqi - spear, to stab ṡil - construction, to build ṡmuj - grass, to sod ṡolṗŭ́ - misfortune, to have bad luck ṡom - consciousness, to be conscious ṡóqu - root, to root in/hold fast ṡubré - Thermal IR (12μm), to make Thermal IR (dyn: to emit Thermal IR) ṡuja - tear, to cry (dyn: to sob) ṡul - animal, to be feral *t tam† - that (as in “Speak to everyone that can hear”) tan - exodus, to escape en masse (dyn: to stampede) táṅqo - stick, to use a stick for... (transitive) ti - dot, to dot (a letter, like i)/tap/poke tíṫu - seed, to plant toĭ - requirement, to need trai - event, to plan an event tsísi - grip, to hold (dyn: to squeeze) tsru - sapience, to be sapient tsrul - tsrul people/culture, to be like a true tsrul tṫjúqa - cord (or rope), to tie (transitive) tṫo - placement, to put tṫúpe - saliva, to spit tupíh - fingertip/fingerpad, to tap tur - chair/seat, to sit *ṫ ṫalján - near IR (800nm), to make near IR (transitive) ṫáṡo - rot, to rot ṫaṫa - brown, to make brown (transitive) ṫíḋĕ - water, to wash (adj: watered-down) ṫisíja - life, to live ṫíżi - closeness, to stay close to... (dyn: to snuggle up to...(transitive)) ṫóla - error, to make a mistake ṫóta - person (genus Homo, ungendered), to be like a person (used with animals) ṫoŭ - lisp, to speak with a lisp (linguistic note: this word was once pronounced sor) ṫu - space/time, to travel through space/time ṫuṅáno - spaceship, to travel on a spaceship (dyn: to get on a spaceship) ṫuṅoʻĭ́r - time travel, to travel only through time ṫusíṅ - word, to say ṫwoŭw - length, to go a long way *u u† - dynamic verbal clitic uáżŭm - cut, to cut udóma - Mid UV (240nm), to make Mid UV (transitive) ujú - wetness, to moisten úlja - wish/desire, to want úme† - soon uṅ - time, to pass (as time passes)/to be in an undisturbed state uṅáqṡo - knife, to chop úpa† - after (when followed by Temporal, means “as soon as”) uqjú - grey/black, to make grey/blacken (transitive) usá - smallness, to make smaller uṫá - light, to brighten uṫán - uṫan (alien life form), to communicate visually *ŭ ŭjál - turqoiuse (500nm), to make turqouise (transitive) ŭ́lmu - strike/hit, to strike/hit ŭmbán - stomach/belly, to sit up from a laying position ŭmŭ́n - back of the hand, to slap ŭmwó - warmth, to warm ŭrjáṅ - ice, to freeze ŭtóŏṅ - beverage, to drink ŭtwám - louse, to infest ŭ́xo - blood, to bleed *w wa - bone, to break a bone (dżinsam ḋowalḋàŏ̀ - I broke some of Gene’s bones) wam - rough impact, to smash wáwan - flight, to flee wéhnŭ - smell, to smell wĕ́qa - hip, to stand wo† - yes (can also mean ‘ahhh,’ or ‘oh, i see.’) woṅ - good, to be good wŏr - conception, to impregnate wóṡa - tree bark, to cover protectively wúṅu - greenish-yellow (570nm), to make greenish-yellow (transitive) wu - perfection, to perfect wúxa - romantic love, to be in love with... (transitive) *x xa - imagination, to imagine xaĭ† - no xágo - mountain, to rock-climb xajúqa - horn, to gore xaṡŭ́ - applause, to clap/to applaud xal* - negative, to not...+core xalír - paucity, to make fewer/“cull the herd” xetṡó - gut, to digest xo - death (of any kind), to die xumŭ - year/orbit/rotation (spacial relation, not time), to orbit or rotate around... (transitive) xŭw - dog, to be a partner to... (in the “hetero-lifemate” sense) *z zĕgím - sun/star, to fuse (as in nuclear fusion) zími - foot, to step zíṅán - faith, to pray zjĕl - eight, to count eight (transitive) zum - like, to like zódżŭ - cock/pussy, to fuck (transitive) (dyn: to pop one’s cherry) zoĭ - child, to raise children zóto - knuckle, to punch zudżún - meat, to prepare meat zuwón - night, to spend the night *ż żájo - neck, to turn one’s head żóna - a pure state of being, to be in a pure state/to be one (with everything) żol - dust (mass), to float like dust (dyn: to gather dust) żŏṅ† - in order to żun - capacity, to fill żum - fairness/equality, to make equal through retribution (ditransitive - agent can be implicit obj. if only 1 obj. is stated) żumí - forest, to camp in the forest żúṅe - shovel, to dig żupé - down, to go downward (dyn: to turn downward) żŭĭ́bi - liver, to purify żwem - name, to call...(transitive) Swadesh List Example text − The first three lines of oʻal i sol (The Two Gifts), the Tsrul creation myth. Category:Languages